The present disclosure is in the technical field of Non Destructive Testing of tubes. More particularly, the present disclosure is related to the technical field of Acoustic Pulse Reflectometry (APR).
APR consists of sending an acoustic pulse into a tube to be inspected, and measuring any reflections that are created in the tube. Reflections are usually indications of defects in the tube. The reflections are processed and after proper interpretation can be used to identify defects, if they exist. Information on each defect can comprise the distance of the defect from the tube inlet and type of defect.
The sensitivity of an APR system depends on the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) which is achieved in the measurements. Small or distant defects create faint reflections, and when the SNR is low, these reflections are drowned in background noise, and cannot be detected. Therefore improving the SNR is a goal of any designer of an APR system.